Clifford Lathrop

Clifford Lathrop was a US Department of Justice investigator and federal agent who was assigned to assist Assistant US Attorney Esther Randolph in prosecuting Atlantic County Treasurer Nucky Thompson for his role in electoral fraud.

Biography
Clifford Lathrop worked for the Department of Justice, and he was sent to assist Assistant US Attorney Esther Randolph with prosecuting Atlantic County Treasurer Enoch Thompson for electoral fraud in 1921. Lathrop and the other federal agents were sent to the Atlantic City, New Jersey post office to make a temporary base, and Lathrop helped with deposing witnesses; Lathrop had an inappropriate and clandestine sexual relationship with Randolph. He was assigned to follow Thompson and protect him from his enemies so that justice could be delivered, and Lathrop followed him to Jack Dempsey's party at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. There, Lathrop shot Chicago Outfit assassin Vito Scalercio after he shot Thompson in the hand, and Lathrop was later sent a basket of Georgia peaches from Thompson to thank him for protecting him - this was done as a sarcastic gesture, mocking Randolph's suggestion that he should thank Lathrop. Lathrop was injured in the line of duty when he attempted to arrest Nelson Van Alden for the murder of Agent Eric Sebso, as the reverend who had witnessed the murder was brought to the post office by Thompson's lawyer Bill Fallon to testify against the agent. As Lathrop took Van Alden's gun from him, Van Alden shot Lathrop in the leg and fled, and Lathrop recovered from his wounds in the following days.